PnB Rock: Man who ordered teenage son to murder rapper and steal his jewellery jailed for a minimum of 31 years
A man convicted of ordering his teenage son to murder a rapper and steal his jewellery at a Los Angeles restaurant has been jailed for 31 years to life.
Freddie Lee Trone, 42, was convicted last month of one count of murder, two counts of robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery after sending his 17-year-old son to rob and kill PnB Rock.
The boy, who is unfit for trial according to a judge, walked into Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles, a venue popular with celebrities, in September 2022, where he fatally shot the 30-year-old artist and took his jewellery.
Freddie Lee Trone was jailed for a minimum of 31 years. Pic: AP
The Philadelphia hip-hop star, whose real name was Rakim Hasheem Allen, was eating with Stephanie Sibounheuang, his fiancee and the mother of his four-year-old daughter.
The gunman, wearing a ski mask, opened fire on Allen, seconds after shouting: “If you don’t give me the jewellery, I’m going to blow her head off,” Rolling Stone said.
Ms Sibounheuang told the court Allen “threw” her under the table when the gunfire began. Allen was shot once in the chest and twice in the back, a post mortem found.
Prosecutors alleged he was acting on his father’s orders, while Trone’s defence team, which plans to appeal, said the older man was only an accessory after the fact.
Trone, who was a member of a South Los Angeles gang, according to NBC, Sky’s US partner, was sentenced at Compton Courthouse in the city on Monday.
PnB Rock had worked with Ed Sheeran. Pic: AP
District attorney George Gascon said Allen’s life “was cut short by an act of violence that no family should have to endure”.
Deannea Allen, the rapper’s mother, quoted by Rolling Stone, said in court that she couldn’t grasp how a parent could “directly put their child in danger”, adding that her son’s murder “has ruined many lives”.
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Trone’s now 19-year-old son, who was not named at the time of the killing because of his age, was also charged with murder but is in juvenile custody after a judge decided he is not currently competent to stand trial.
PnB Rock was best known for his 2016 hit Selfish and for guest appearances on other artists’ songs such as YFN Lucci’s Everyday We Lit and Ed Sheeran’s Cross Me, with Chance The Rapper.
Trone’s co-defendant Tremont Jones, 46, was jailed for 12 years for two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been denied bail ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges.
Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip-hop mogul had failed to show sufficient evidence he is not a flight risk and also cited admissions of previous violence made during his trial.
Combs, 55, has been in prison since his arrest in September last year.
During a two-month trial, jurors heard allegations that he had coerced former girlfriends, including singer and model Cassie Ventura, into having drug-fuelled sex marathons with male sex workers, while he watched and filmed them.
Diddy fell to his knees after the verdict was delivered last month. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
In July, he was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution – but cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking, which carried potential life sentences.
The rapper’s legal team hailed this a “victory” and immediately applied for bail ahead of sentencing, citing his acquittal on the top charges.
After this was denied, they submitted another application last week. Judge Subramanian has now rejected the request again.
In denying the motion for bail, the judge found Combs had failed to show sufficient evidence to counter arguments he is a flight risk, writing in a court filing: “Increasing the amount of the bond or devising additional conditions doesn’t change the calculus given the circumstances and heavy burden of proof that Combs bears.”
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Judge Arun Subramanian heard Diddy’s trial and will also sentence the rapper
He also found that an argument by the music star’s legal team that the squalor and danger of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), where he is being held, did not warrant release.
“The public outcry concerning these conditions has come from all corners,” the judge wrote. “But as Combs acknowledges, MDC staff has been able to keep him safe and attend to his needs, even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate.”
As well as Combs’s bail application, his legal team has also filed a motion calling for him to be acquitted or given a new trial on the prostitution-related charges only.
The judge has not yet responded to this application.
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How the Diddy trial unfolded
How long could Diddy be jailed for?
Combs is due to be sentenced on 3 October and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Discussions on sentencing guidelines which followed the jury’s verdict suggest it is unlikely he will be jailed for this long, with an estimate of around two to five years, taking into account time already served.
However, it is ultimately up to Judge Arun Subramanian to decide the rapper’s punishment.
On Friday, Donald Trump was asked during an interview about a potential pardon for Combs following speculation about the issue.
The president said it was unlikely, adding that the rapper was “very hostile” during his presidential campaign.
Combs, who co-founded Bad Boy Records and launched the career of the late Notorious BIG, was for decades a huge figure in pop culture – a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and business entrepreneur, who presided over an empire ranging from fashion to reality TV.
As well as the criminal conviction, he is also facing several civil lawsuits.
Donald Trump has waded into the debate surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad.
The American Eagle ad, which features the 27-year-old actress, who starred in the HBO series Euphoria and White Lotus, has the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.
It has sparked a debate in the US over race and Western beauty standards.
One of the Sydney Sweeney jeans ads. Pic: AP
In a Truth Social post, the US president described it as the “hottest ad out there”.
Hailing Sweeney as a “registered Republican”, he said the jeans are “flying off the shelves”, adding: “Go get ’em Sydney!”
Most of the criticism of the ad has centred on videos using the word “genes” instead of “jeans”, with one in which Sweeney says: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”
Critics argued the play on words potentially promotes eugenics, a discredited theory that believed humanity could be improved through the selective breeding of certain traits.
But others have defended the ad, saying the critics are reading too much into its message.
The video appeared on American Eagle’s Facebook page and other social media channels, but is not part of the ad campaign.
In a statement on Instagram on Friday, American Eagle Outfitters said the campaign “is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Stocks in American Eagle Outfitters jumped by 23.3% after Mr Trump’s intervention.
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In his Truth Social post, which he reposted three times to fix various typos, Mr Trump compared the ad with “woke” ones “on the other side of the ledger” – as he criticised other companies, as well as hitting out at Taylor Swift.
“The tide has seriously turned – Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be,” he wrote.
Sky News has contacted Sweeney’s agent for comment.
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